National Lottery Grants for Heritage

Broad Meadow 2024

Applicant: Residence (Bristol) CIC

Project description: Focusing on the relationship between built and natural heritage in Bristol shopping quarter, Residence (Bristol) CIC aims to create a wildflower meadow and audio-piece in partnership with local schools. The meadow will be used as a multi-sensory exhibition over four days to encourage families and students to think about their connectivity with plants.

Decision: Award grant of £9,900

Abundant Life

Applicant: Common Flora Ltd

Project description: Common Flora Ltd aims to connect farming families and migrants to the South Devon landscape through documenting oral histories, memories and culture. The organisation will monitor biodiversity by training participants to conduct baseline surveys on conventional and organic farms. 

Decision: Award grant of £9,993

Making HERstory: Celebrating 10 Years of Muslimah Sports Association

Applicant: Muslimah Sports Association

Project description: To document the sports heritage of Muslim women in the UK. In the first half of the project, volunteers will be trained to undertake archival research and oral history interviewing. The material collected by volunteers will support the second half of the project: an exhibition sharing the story of Muslimah Sports Association and Muslim women in sport. Based in Newham, Muslimah Sports Association aims to help Muslim women from East London to share their stories, with the aim of challenging stereotypes about sportswomen. 

Decision: Award grant of £9,996

Eliza Flower Heritage Project

Applicant: ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE

Project description: To help connect local communities to the lost musical and philosophical heritage of composer and radical activist, Eliza Flower (1803-1846). This will be done through interconnected performance and participatory events. Four music performances will include workshops, local choirs, an online resource, and the commissioning of four female composers. 

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

Black History Month 2023

Applicant: Diversity Resource International (DRI)

Project description: To showcase the heritage of East Sussex residents from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The applicant commissioned a 30-minute film in 2021, “Shades of Sussex” to share the lived experience of the residents. This year the DRI aims to expand on and improve this film, incorporating two or three young Lewesian residents’ lived experience of school and college life. The film will be shown in schools, community groups and local libraries. A final event will be held at the town hall. 

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

COMPOSITOR E

Applicant: Omnibus-Clapham

Project description: Omnibus-Clapham aims to use the 400th anniversary of the production of Shakespeare’s First Folio to engage students from Lambeth College. Key themes explored in the project include the history of print, workers’ rights and witchcraft. The project aims to connect these themes with AQA’s GCSE English Literature curriculum. Students will be encouraged to provide written responses to the First Folio to create their own digital Folio, as well as attending a performance about First Folio creator Isaac Jaggard, called ‘COMPOSITOR E.’

Decision: Award grant of £20,975

Lady of the House – Story Telling

Applicant: Lady of the House Worldwide CIC

Project description: To highlight and champion the achievements of women in electronic music in Bristol. To engage more people in this community heritage, Lady of the House Worldwide CIC will deliver school workshops, organise live events and create research partnerships. These activities will inform the publication of a second book by the organisation on the contribution of women to house music.

Decision: Award grant of £27,730

Roots and Routes: Bodmin's Legacy

Applicant: intoBodmin CIC

Project description: To explore the story of Bodmin, Cornwall, through filmmaking and photography. It focuses on Cornish press photographer George Ellis and philanthropist John Passmore Edwards. intoBodmin CIC will run digitisation activities, photography workshops, create a magazine and collect local stories. This project forms part of the town’s regeneration cultural recovery plans.

Decision: Award grant of 82,688

Empowering Community Resilience to Relaunch the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall

Applicant: WILLESDEN TRADES AND LABOUR HALL SERVICES LIMITED

Project description: To carry out community consultation to repair and reuse the Willesden Trades and Labour Hall, Brent, according to the needs of the local community. After performing urgent temporary repairs, the project will include engagement activities with the Hall’s built heritage such as oral history collection and taster activities. In the interim, the use of the building will also ensure an economic output for the local area.

Decision: Award grant of £85,675

Blockhouse Folk: Past, Present and Future

Applicant: The Village Hub Community Limited

Project description: Focusing on community heritage at Blockhouse Park, Plymouth, The Village Hub Community Limited will create a programme of 36 diverse activities engaging youth groups, local care homes and a LGBTQ+ choir. These activities include traditional crafts including flax growing, weaving, and performing sea shanties. Through these activities, the organisation aims to connect residents to their local environment and built community resilience.

Decision: Award grant of £97,340

Bristol & Weston Wild Spaces – Transforming Habitat for People & Pollinators in Schools

Applicant: Butterfly Conservationb

Project description: Focusing on the natural heritage of Bristol and Weston, Butterfly Conservation aims to create at least 47 ‘Wild Spaces’ and engage children across 12 primary schools. The Wild Spaces will be used to increase community understanding of the role and importance of pollinators, including butterflies and moths. A further 70 volunteers will be trained to deliver resources and learning sessions.

Decision: Award grant of £137,599

Jewish Reform Pioneers: uncovering BPR Cemetery's hidden stories

Applicant: London Borough of Islington

Project description: To reinforce Balls Pond Cemetery in the London Borough of Islington. This will be achieved through surveys, upskilling and engagement; complemented by restoration and conservation works to halt degradation of the heritage assets.

Decision: Award grant of £190,731

National Parks: New Perspectives

Applicant: Campaign For National Parks

Project description: To develop a young leaders programme (aged 16-30) which will engage a wider range of people in National Parks heritage. It will support young people to champion and advocate for the issues they care about as well as creating bursaries, run fieldtrips, and support career development. Activities will co-inside with the 75th anniversary of National Parks. 

Decision: Award grant of £199,556

Wild Tolworth

Applicant: Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

Project description: To revitalise the social and environmental heritage of Tolworth Court Farm Fields. It will inspire and involve local residents in uncovering and exploring its heritage, giving a sense of place and ownership in their community. A volunteer group will be created to boost engagement. Restoring the wetland will provide clay to be used by local schools, community groups, and artists to create new gateway entrances to the park. Oral histories will also be collected to create a virtual walking tour.

Decision: Award grant of £238,000

'Becoming Seamlessly Inclusive' – celebrating Paralympic sport for sensory needs, cerebral palsy and dwarfism

Applicant: National Paralympic Heritage Trust

Project description: To connect the National Paralympic Heritage Trust with three National Disability Sport Organisations. The project will catalogue and digitise their collections and gather stories and objects from their communities. It will include four traineeships for disabled people, new volunteer recruitment and the collection of 15 oral histories. 

Decision: Award grant of £240,018

Railway Heritage Project

Applicant: Southeast Communities Rail Partnership CIC

Project description: To reshape the narrative of deprivation at St Leonards-on-Sea by celebrating the area’s contribution to building Sussex’s railways in the 19th Century. The project aims to open St Leonards-on-Sea's first museum and community space, to be used by young people. Other aims include a focus on the role of nomadic communities in the 19th Century railway workforce, a two-week exhibition and a street-party launch.

Decision: Award grant of £10,000

Skateboardam and Achieve

Applicant: MOTIV8 SOUTH LTD

Project description: Based in Portsmouth and Southsea, it aims to involve young people not in full-time education with skating. MOTIV8 SOUTH LTD will research and document the community heritage of skating in the area, which will be shared through social media and film screenings. The project also aims to support local skating businesses by providing skills training and publicity.

Decision: Award grant of £15,750

Full-Cycle

Applicant: Frames of Mind Ltd

Project description: To engage Newham residents and key stage two primary school children with the history of cycling at Forest Gate. Frames of Mind Ltd aims to engage these audiences through events such as animation- and documentary-making, oral history collecting, digitising and social media events. The organisation also aims to create a steering group. These activities will be in partnership with the Etty family, who have owned a cycle repairs shop for over 70 years and which forms part of the area’s living heritage. 

Decision: Award grant of £44,400

Windrush@75

Applicant: Learning Through The Arts CIC

Project description: To explore the contribution of Windrush migrants to public services in Britain. Individual stories structure its programme of touring exhibitions, workshops, screenings and trips. Learning Through the Arts CIC aims to engage children and people of Caribbean descent with Windrush era history and cultural heritage.

Decision: Award grant of £55,816

Community Forager in Residence: nurturing the connection between plants and people in East Kent

Applicant: WorldWild CIC

Project description: In Chartham, Petham, Chilham and Garlinge Green, WorldWild CIC aims to increase individual wellbeing and sense of community by encouraging the traditional practice of foraging in the local area. They will engage young people, refugees, older people, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities through weekly foraging activities and a community research project. 

Decision: Reject

The Forest of Dean Writers Collection

Applicant: University of Gloucestershire

Project description: The literary heritage of Forest of Dean is at the heart of this project. By cataloguing, conserving and sharing the collections of writers from c.1840-2000 CE, it aims to renegotiate the industrial identity of the area. The University of Gloucester plans to engage teachers and students through workshops, conduct audio-interviews with families, and recruit and train volunteers at the Dean Heritage Centre.

Decision: Award grant of £133,873

Fields in Trust – strategic change and impact evaluation

Applicant: Fields In Trust

Project description: To create a sustainable and future-proofed charity. Funding received would be spent on commissioning an expert agency to work collaboratively with the charity team and its Trustees to develop a new strategy and an impact and evaluation framework. To meet the strategy launch in 2025. The requested grant would also cover internal staff costs including project evaluation. 

Decision: Reject

The People's Gallery: community photography and film in East London

Applicant: Four Corners Limited

Project description: To explore the community-engaged photography and film of the 1970s and 1980s in East London. It will work with 16 volunteers to create a “living archive” through oral history training and collecting and support to digitise and catalogue photographs and documents. They will also create five short films and write reflective blogs. The project will offer two paid internships for underrepresented backgrounds and support three placements from Queen Mary University. Two exhibitions will also be created which will tour schools and community centres. 

Decision: Award grant of £235,000

Burton: Exploring Without Boundaries

Applicant: Habitats & Heritage

Project description: To restore and conserve Sir Richard Francis Burton and Lady Isabel Burton’s tent shaped mausoleum in Mortlake, which is deteriorating. It will also deliver an outreach programme that will focus on underrepresented ethnic and religious groups to encourage a shared and connected understanding of history. It will provide information on the British Empire during the Victorian period and a focus on the Hajj. This will seek to explore the religious practise and the changing attitudes to Muslims in Victorian Britain. The whole project will be carried out by volunteers using archival material.

Decision: Award grant of £249,110

Nigerian Culture & Traditional Heritage – Our Perspective on Global Fashion

Applicant: Yield Initiatives CIC

Project description: To focus on the textile and fashion heritage of Nigeria. It includes 6-month workshops, a fashion show and a free exhibition showcasing clothes made by participants, which fuse Nigerian traditional craftsmanship and contemporary British fashion. Yield Initiatives aims to engage young people (18-25) and participants from the African London Southeast community. The project will encourage participants to learn about the textile and fashion industry’s impact on the environment.

Decision: Reject

St Mary's Church Belstone Windows

Applicant: PCC for Belstone and Sticklepath

Project description: To restore the built heritage of St Mary’s Church in Belstone, Devon. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) for Belstone and Sticklepath aims to remove and replace the rusting Tie Bars to the windows of St Mary’s Church. In doing so, the project plans to futureproof the building and its book exchange for future generations.

Decision: Reject

Documentary and exhibition of the Latin American heritage

Applicant: Bolivia Latin Age UK CIC

Project description: To focus on the cultural heritage of people from the Andean region of Latin America. It aims to engage the local community by creating an exhibition showing diverse folkloric clothes from this region. An accompanying documentary will explore the stories of Latino communities who moved to Walworth, London in 1980s and 1990s.

Decision: Reject

Les Noces Reimagined

Applicant: New Movement Collective

Project description: Centred around Stravinsky’s piece of classical music, ‘Les Noces’ (The Wedding), a new version of the score will be produced as part of the project. This will then be used to create an experience based on the format of a mass wedding. As part of the experience, the different wedding traditions of participants will be recorded. It includes partnerships to engage youth groups in Tower Hamlets and Manchester, and older people in Newham in the performance. Profit from the event will be used to commission contemporary composers and songwriters to create their own responses to Stravinsky’s piece.

Decision: Reject

Heritage Pakistan Legacy

Applicant: Awaaz Fm Community Radio CIC

Project description: To collate and preserve information about the arrival of the Pakistani community in Southampton. By providing information through a website, leaflets, books, an exhibition and open days, it aims to explore the difference Pakistani culture has made on Southampton from 1960s to present. It will help participants feel better connected to their cultural and community heritage. 

Decision: Reject

Chipping Sodbury Town Clock

Applicant: Chipping Sodbury Town Trust

Project description: To repair the Clock Tower building in Chipping Sodbury High Street, Gloucestershire. The Clock Tower is part of a larger building, including a bus shelter, public toilets and base for the Tourist Information Group. The repair works will ensure a higher standard of maintenance and enable the Clock Tower to be used by future generations.

Decision: Reject

Us & Them

Applicant: Freewheelers Theatre and Media Limited

Project description: To use medical records to explore changes in understandings of long-stay psychiatric hospitals. By contrasting Victorian to present attitudes, the organisation aims to invite discussions about discrimination, disability, and the ethics of repurposing heritage objects for social justice. Activities include creating a series of portraits of the organisation’s members using Tintype photography, memory recording sessions, an exhibition and the creation of a seven-minute documentary film.

Decision: Reject

Final Phase of the Reconstruction of The Miniature Temple in Devonshire Park, Eastbourne

Applicant: The Eastbourne Society

Project description: To reconstruct an 1895 temple originally built for Devonshire Park, Eastbourne. Funding is needed for Phase two of the reconstruction which includes constructing stone steps, cladding the frame and installing interpretation. The organisation plans for the structure to be used for community events such as wedding photography, corporate events, and musical performances.

Decision: Reject

Young Fore Street Heritage Legacy 

Applicant: Youth Made Place CIC

Project description: The project focuses on how young people (10-21 years) perceive the environment through the built heritage of Fore Street. Youth Made Place CIC aims to create a range of digital resources in partnership with local schools. These resources will be made through site visits and workshops and include poems, drawings and songs. The project aims to allow young people to connect with the heritage of their family, Enfield and the local built environment.

Decision: Reject

Flip the Script – Film Education Programme

Applicant: Rich Mix Cultural Foundation
Project description: To encourage year 5 – 6 school children in Hackney and Tower Hamlets to explore their heritage and use film to decolonise the stories and histories that they learn at school, particularly those which relate to their own heritage. This will be done through CPD sessions, workshops, film club and a heritage festival. 

Decision: Reject

Women in Prison's 40th Anniversary

Applicant: Women in Prison Limited

Project description: To document and share the heritage of women in prison. As part of their 40th anniversary, the organisation aims to create a special edition of their magazine edited by women in prison and showcasing their artwork, poetry and stories. Other activities include archival research in partnership with Westminster University and a performance by Clean Break Theatre. Through these activities, it will increase awareness and explore the key issues leading to crime.

Decision: Reject

From Dust to Digital: OARBS Heritage Digitisation

Applicant: Learning on Screen – The British Universities and College Film and Video Council

Project description: To catalogue and digitise the applicant’s Off-Air Recording Back-Up Services’ tape archive. Digital records will be uploaded onto their educational platform ‘Box of Broadcasts’. This is an academically focused system which allows staff and students at subscribing educational institutions to view and record their archive. 

Decision: Reject

Remembering Section 28 in the Southwest on the 20th anniversary of its repeal

Project description: To generate a new heritage collection from the memories of the LGBTQ+ community. This will enable LGBTQ+ people to better understand their own history and be able to place themselves in the history of the region. Activities will include training young people to carry out oral history interviews, archiving these oral histories, creating a website to showcase them and running reflective cafes. 

Decision: Award grant of £9,993

Grant increases

Restoring our Heritage Bells – St John’s Piddinghoe. Our Bells & Our Future; a legacy of community and music

Applicant:  St John the Evangelist, Piddinghoe

Project description: To restore, conserve and rehouse the original bells in St John’s church, whilst ensuring that our cultural and religious legacy is entrusted and shared with our local and regional community. 

Decision: Award grant increase of £8,587 to make a total grant request of £42,632